Mouse-guard for musical instruments.



J. H. GINDLING.

MOUSE GUARD FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

APPLICATI ON FILED AUG. 12. 1914.

Patented Oct. 9, 1917.

[I M/bier JOHN H. GINDLING, 0F TAMPA, FLORIDA.

MOUSE-GUARD ron MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 9, 1917.

Application filed August 12, 1914. Serial No.'856,355.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN H. GINDLING, a citizen of the United States, and residing at Tampa, in the'county of I-Iillsboro and the State of Florida, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mouse- Guards for Musical Instruments, of which the following is a specification, such as will enable those skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to mouse-guards for musical instruments, and particularly for pianos, organs or other instruments of this class, and the object thereof is to provide an improved device of the class specified, designed for use in connection with a pedal or pedals of a piano or other musical instrument of same character, and by means of which mice will be prevented from entering the instrument through the hole or holes in which the pedals operate.

The invention is fully disclosed in the following specification, of which the accompanying drawings form a part, in which the separate parts of my improvement are designated by suitable reference characters in each of the views, and in which:

Figure 1 is a sectional view showing the front wall of a piano, or similar instrument, the bottom or fioor thereof, and a pedal provided with my improvement; Fig. 2 a bottom plan view of the pedal with the mouseguard attached; Fig. 8 a section on line 33 of Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 a side view of a modified form of pedal, showing how the guard is attached to this form of pedal.

In Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawing, I have shown at a the front wall of a piano, organ or similar musical instrument, at Z) the bottom or floor thereof, and at 0 an ordinary pedal having a shank 0 which passes into an opening a in the front wall of the instrument, and in the practice of my invention, I provide a yoke-shaped attachment (Z, which is adapted to be mounted on the projecting portion of the pedal, with the side arms thereof directed downwardly, and mounted on said side arms, and below the pedal, are two cross-plates ec held in place by thumb nuts f-f, and placed transversely of, and between the two cross-plates cc, and ranging longitudinally of the pedal is an L-shaped guard-plate h, the short arm 71. of which passes into the opening a in the front Wall of the instrument, and the short arm k of this L-shaped guardplate is either directed downwardly as shown in Fig. 1, or upwardly as shown in Fig. 4, depending on which one of the two forms of pedals the guard-plate h is to be attached. All pedals having either an offset or projection underneath said pedal, the L-shaped guard-plate h is attached with the short arm 71, directed upwardly, as shown in Fig. 4.

This L-shaped guard-plate 72., is securely held in place between the two cross-plates e-e, by the two thumbnuts j"-f, and the ends of the two cross-plates e-@ are firmly drawn together, when the two thumb nuts f-f are tightened.

This arrangement of attaching the L- shaped guard-plate it permits said guardplate to be adjusted transversely, as well as longitudinally into any desired position, as will be readily understood.

One end of each of the two cross-plates cc is provided with a hole through which passes one of the side arms d of the yoke-shaped attachment d, as shown in Fig. 2, and the other end of each of the two crossplates e@ is provided with a slot 6 through which the other member of the yoke-shaped attachment d is placed.

This slot e in the cross-plates ee and shown in Fig. 2, permits the yokeshaped attachment (Z to be adjustable to the slight variations in widths, which exists in the various forms of pedals.

My improved mouseguard may be connected with a pedal by anyone, and the construction thereof involves no change in the pedal.

All ordinary pedals have a slight concave or depressed top, as shown in Figs. 1 and L, and by reason of this construction, when the yoke-shaped attachment d is connected with the pedal, it remains securely in position, while the L-shaped guard-plate it may be adjusted to any desired position, as will be readily understood.

I now have Letters Patent No. 1,097,857,

for a device of this character, which also has a yoke-shaped attachment (Z; an L-shaped guard-plate h in which there is a slot, placed longitudinally, in the long arm or shank thereof; there is also a cross-plate c, with a hole in each end, and a screw hole in the center thereof; there are also two-thumbnuts.

In the old construction there are two forms of guard-plates, and said guardplates'are held in place with a thumb screw, which is passed upwardly through the slot in said guard-plate, and into the screw hole in center of cross-plate e.

The yoke-shaped attachment cl, and the two thumb nuts f-f are identical in the old and neweonstruction; I therefore do not claim this combination broadly, and What I do claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

A mouse-guard for apedal of a musical instrument comprising a yoke shaped member mounted on the projecting portion of the pedal,a pair of cross plates mounted on the side arms of the yoke shaped member, and

JOHN H. GINDLING.

lVitnesses:

J. T. VVATsoN, Jr.,

CLARKE KNIGHT.

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

